Day 104

Lets first start of by saying that my wife is unbelievable and amazing, and you are all great liars. Last night with my cousins Steve (with girlfriend Julia) and Julie and MD in town, we had planned to go to Piece for dinner, a cool pizza place and brewery with Ags and his Julie. In essence it was dinner with two Julie's and a Julia. Anyways, MD, Julie, Leah and I got in a cab and headed to Piece. When we walked in it was wall to wall people and I immediately said to Leah "I told Ags we should have called ahead, we will never get a table for 8 here" Leah said, "Ags is over there" and we walked towards this level down private area where I looked down to see a sea of familiar faces. From Eric and Chari Schwartz coming all the way from Long Grove in the burbs, to Podo and Arnie (in from Milwaukee), to My mother in law (in town for a shower), there were a ton of people saying "SURPRISE!!!" I was absolutely floored. I had zero clue that Leah had anything planned. My 30th birthday isn't for a month but we are so busy over the next month and the weekend of my birthday is Jessica's shower and bachelorette party, so that was out. All week I was so looking forward to Friday night because everyone was in town and I was trying to get everyone to meet out for drinks after dinner. I never put two in two together when Dave cancelled on me on Thursday, Mark P was supposed to meet us out, but I never heard back from him all day, Jaimo said her mom was in town, Melsh sent me an email saying his wife wouldn't let him go out, Gregg told me Rebecca was sick, and K sent me a text saying he was out as well. Crazy how I never put this together. I'm glad I didn't, it would have ruined an amazing surprise.

We had a huge crew. We had teasers, pitchers of beer, pizza, and a cake. The more the night progressed, the more I drank. I had a few beers to start then the shots started and I switched to Vodka. I tried my best to talk to everyone for as much as I could, but it was tough with such a big crowd. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my brother. This night, to me, originally was for him. With everything he is going through, I wanted him to have a great time, get "all banged up" with me and my friends and let off some much needed steam. In being with him most of the day today, I am happy to report he had a blast. I am hoping everyone did.

After the party I'd say 20 of us moved to a different bar in Bucktown, Nick's. We kind of took over the back room area. Immediately, Melsh, MD, Arnie, Podo, Julie, and I threw down a Jaeger bomb. About 10 minutes later Mark P came in demanding we do another one. At this point I was pretty well taken care of. The rest of what happened at Nick's comes in bits and pieces to me. I remember taking a 4th shot at the bar with Steve and Mark P and almost losing it. I remember the bouncer threatening to throw Steve out if he didn't put his shirt back on. I remembered some weird conversation involving why K and Francesca aren't engaged yet. Next thing I knew it was 1 AM and we were walking to Flash Taco and I was ordering a Burrito. Dave walked into Flash with the "30" balloons Leah brought from the party. Singer was still trying to work my brother. Julie was burying a chicken burrito. P was being P. It was legit. I needed that burrito badly. Had I gone home and tried to go to bed at that point, trouble may have ensued in my stomach. The night couldn't have been more perfect or more fun.

When you out them all in one room, I never realized how many good friends I truly have. Looking back it makes me realize how lucky I am. All of you who were there and who read this blog, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there. My wonderful and loving sister in law Jessica deserves special mention for being a help to Leah plan this surprise. And to Leah, what more can I say about her. I think everyone agrees that I am beyond lucky to have her in my life. For her to organize such a great party and keep this a secret without me having any inclination about it is pretty amazing. She deserves all the accolades that she got last night. Thank you my dear, for making last night one of the best nights of my life.

Song of the Day: "Award Tour" by A Tribe Called Quest